City Index Review

About City Index

City Index is a well-regarded CFD and forex broker which has been operating for 40 years. The firm is a multi-asset broker which means investors can trade a wide range of instruments in global markets or focus on domestic investment opportunities such as ASX listed shares, where trading commissions start at AUD$5.

The firm has attracted more than 1m clients to its platform and has more than 800 staff. The staff of the Australia office of City Index are based in the heart of Sydney from where the firm has been supporting Australian clients since 2006.

The length of time the firm has been operating provides a degree of security which is further backed up by City Index being owned by StoneX Group Inc (formerly known as INTL FCStone) which is an institutional-grade financial services company. StoneX specialises the finance and investment sector and clients of City Index benefit from its many years of experience of operating in the global markets.

The fact that StoneX is a Nasdaq-listed Fortune 100 company means that it has to comply with the rules and regulations of the Nasdaq exchange where it currently trades at a share price which gives it a market capitalisation of $ 2.57bn. Those clients who are domiciled in Australia also benefit from their trading activity being within scope of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

City Index does not give the impression of being a firm which is resting on its laurels. A range of innovative tools are available to clients which reaffirm the view that City Index is committed to ensuring its clients get the best trading experience. The groundbreaking approach of the firm has led to it picking up a number of industry awards including, Best CFD Provider 2024 (ADVFN International Financial Awards), Best in Class 2023 (Forexbrokers.com), and #1 New Tool 2023 (Performance Analytics).

City Index rightfully deserves a place on any shortlist of brokers, but no service provider ticks all of the boxes for all traders. This review will consider the pros and cons of City Index and outline the reasons why (and why not) the broker might be the best fit for your style of trading.

Products and Trade Offers

City Index offers its clients the opportunity to trade more than 6,300 markets. These cover asset groups which include stocks, forex, indices, CFDs, commodities, crypto and bullion.

When setting up to enter any of these markets there is a choice of accounts with each one designed to support a particular style of trader.

Standard Account – Provides access to thousands of global markets via desktop platforms and mobile apps. Comes with the TradingView charting tool known for its impressive software tools and this account has tight spreads and no hidden fees.

MT4 Account – This account is dedicated to those looking to use MetaTrader’s flagship MT4 platform. There is a modest number of markets on offer, only 100, but each can be traded using the algorithm-based functionality of the MT4 dashboard and the much-loved Expert Advisors program.

Professional – Designed to cater to high-net-worth individuals this account isn’t available to those who don’t meet the selection criteria. Those who do qualify will be able to take advantage of the same functionality features of the Standard account but will benefit from improved margin rates, bespoke rebates, priority service, and access to a credit facility.

Corporate – The trading experience of this account will again be similar to the Standard and Professional accounts but as the account is set up in the name of a company it can be funded from business accounts and allows multiple users to access the account and trade.

Demo – Whatever your customer profile and investing aims there is always some benefit to be gained by starting off with a Demo account. The City Index Demo account includes all the features of a live account and is an ideal way to familiarize yourself with the City Index platform or test new strategies before applying real capital into the markets.

With the exception of the MT4 account which is dedicated to users of the MetaTrader platform the rest of the accounts all provide access to a range of award-winning trading dashboards. One platform which deserves a special mention is the highly regarded TradingView dashboard which is establishing a position as one of the markets top dealing boards. It has the same user-friendly functionality of regular platforms but is packed full of powerful analysis tools which can be applied to state-of-the-art price charts.

The Web Trader platform is equally impressive and has successfully supported City Index clients for many years. Those looking to trade on the go can use the award-winning mobile app which seamlessly carries desktop functionality over to a smaller screen.

Getting set up to take advantage of the City Index service requires a minimum account opening balance of $150 (Standard account) and completing an online application process which during our testing took a matter of minutes to work through. It is possible to fund your account using a range of payment methods including, debit card, credit card, bank transfer, EFT, BPAY, PayID. The length of time taken for funds to be credited to your account can vary depending on which payment provider you choose to use.

Commissions and Fee Charges

Broadly speaking the pricing terms offered by City Index are competitive and in line with the peer group. The broker is not a budget operation, and so whilst you might find marginally cheaper trading elsewhere, that would involve foregoing the additional services City Index provides to give your trading an extra competitive edge.

There is also little chance of being caught out by hidden trading charges, the City Index approach of rolling all of their revenue generation into bid-offer spreads aids transparency and allows users to run a full cost-benefit analysis using only one metric.

Major forex pairs such as EUR/USD have bid-offer spreads as tight at 0.5pips and major Indices such as the ASX200 trade with spreads starting from 1point.

Commodity spreads are also inline with the multi-asset broker peer group with oil spreads starting at 0.4pts, and spot gold spreads as low as 0.3pts.

As mentioned, the trading terms at City Index are competitive rather than groundbreaking, but there are additional factors to consider such as the quality of the trade execution service. City Index average execution speeds are as low as 0.02 seconds and 99.99% of all trades are processed successfully.

There are no fees charged by City Index on cash deposits and withdrawals made using debit/credit cards and bank transfers, though it is recommended you check with your paying agent that they won’t levy a charge. Some of the administrative fees which can be applied stand out as potentially being irksome.

There is for example a $12 inactivity fee which is charged on a monthly basis if your account has been dormant for more than a year. This charge can of course be avoided by clients engaging in some prudent housekeeping and ties in with the move across the industry for brokers to focus their attention on supporting active traders.

What Others Say

“City Index has low forex trading fees, and non-trading fees like withdrawal fees are also low. Account opening is fast and smooth and a wide range of high-quality research tools are available.

However, City Index provides only forex, CFDs and crypto trading. The fees for stock CFDs are high and the desktop trading platform is not user-friendly.

BrokerChooser gave City Index a 4.5/5 rating based on analyzing 600+ criteria and testing via opening a live account.”

This review by BrokerChooser highlights some of the most attractive features of City Index and also how it has traditionally been viewed as applying above average fees on stock trades. That is something the broker is trying to address by introducing a new tariff on CFD trades in Australian stocks with commissions capped at 0.08% of the trade value with a minimum charge of $5.

The ForexBrokers.com review of City Index picks out the regulatory and financial strength of City Index as being one of the broker’s best selling points. It does also mention reasons why the broker might not be the first choice of traders committed to using MetaTrader’s MT4 plarform.

“Backed by StoneX Group, City Index is a trusted brand known for its versatile trading platforms, excellent mobile app, diverse market research, and extensive range of tradeable markets.

However, average pricing and a limited MetaTrader offering hold City Index back from competing with the best forex brokers.”

Review site Compare Forex Brokers is a fan of the many nice-to-have features offered to City Index clients.

“We found City Index has low forex trading fees with no commissions outside the spread, a good choice of trading platforms and if using the City Index platform; the benefit of a guaranteed stop loss to protect your trades and unique 3rd party addons.”  

But like other analysts, the team at Compare Forex Brokers also identify the problem of City Index being perceived as a broker which has traditionally been associated with higher-than-average share trading commissions.

“City Index however is not without its downside, fees for stock CFDs are on the higher side”

Customer Service

The decision by City Index to provide a quality rather than low-budget service is possibly best demonstrated by the impressive levels of customer service which the firm provides.

Those with queries can contact the broker by phone, Live Chat, email, or WhatsApp with the interactive services being available 24/5. Having a range of different ways to obtain support can help clients make problem solving more efficient. Immediate and time sensitive queries about live trades can be addressed quickly by contacting City Index staff who are based in Australia and more detailed queries about matters such as account management can be sent in long form messages.

The FAQs section of the brokers site is well thought out and works through commonly raised issues. There are sections on how to open accounts, manage leverage and margin, and how to use the trading platforms. This means makes it possible to find all the information you need on the broker’s site but is backed up by the security of having informed and helpful City Index staff on hand should they be needed.

Platform Features and Tools

Each of the three platforms on offer provide City Index clients with an institution-grade trading experience. The pros and cons of MetaTrader’s MT4 platform are well known thanks to it having served the trading community for more than 20 years. It’s an ideal platform for those wanting to apply technical analysis and charting techniques and opens the door to building your own algorithm-based trading models or using automated trading systems developed by others.

The Web Trader dashboard which has for many years formed the base of the City Index trading experience has a clean aesthetic and can be set to a range of different colour configurations. Price charts can be set to up to 14 different timeframes which supports both speculative traders and long-term investors. Despite the array of impressive tools on offer the dashboard feels uncluttered thanks to the additional trading tools being conveniently being stored in a retractable sidebar which can be easily accessed as and when they are needed.

Part of the appeal of the WebTrader platform is the extent to which it can be customised. It’s possible to set up multiple charts designed to pursue a particular type of strategy and save that layout for future use. Additional features which can be built into your bespoke set up include real-time news monitors, portfolio performance analytics, market analysis readings, and SMART signals.

The advanced charts feature enables those who pursue charting techniques to take advantage of razor-sharp graphics and more than 80 customisable technical indicators. Those who are exploring the markets for their next trading idea can overlay data from different markets onto one chart to allow direct comparisons or use the Browse Markets feature to identify trading opportunities.

TradingView is a welcome addition to the City Index offering. It comes with all the features which would be required by an institutional trader or broker and screen layouts can be formatted to your preference. These favourite layouts can be accessed using both desktop and mobile devices making for a continuous trading experience.

TradingView allows you to customise trading indicators to suit your particular strategy. It also offers advanced stock screeners, a neat live news panel, and can be set up to send you price alerts. The strategy tester tool is a great way to test out new ideas and if you want to find out what other traders are considering buying then the community area of the platform is a place where you can research thousands of thoughts and ideas being developed by other traders.

Mobile Trading

The City Index app does such an impressive job of carrying over the functionality of the desktop platforms to a handheld device that it won the ‘Best App 2022’ title at the Shares Awards.

It supports one-swipe trading so that you can trade at speed, has 60+ technical indicators built in, and allows price charts to be viewed in landscape or portrait mode. All of your everyday account management tasks can be carried out using a phone or tablet, but where the app stands out is in the way it supports the impressive additional services City Index is known for.

Valuable features such as Performance Analytics and TradingView can be accessed whilst you are on the go and the desktop and mobile accounts are linked so that traders can open and close the same trade on both devices.

Robo Trading

The MetaTrader MT4 platform is the cornerstone of City Index’s automated trading offering. It’s hard to find faults in one of the world’s most popular trading platforms which has been offering systematic traders everything they need for many years.

Using MT4 allows you to build and test your own models and the Expert Advisors feature allows you to trade using models developed by other traders. The programming wizards make it easy for even novice modellers to develop the skills needed to set up their own automated trading system and enjoy a more hands-off trading experience.

If you have existing models these can be plugged into the market using City Index’s API (Application Programming Interface) and there are also options to use API protocols to benefit from third party providers such as Capitalise.ai which allows you to use plain English to build trading models.

The relatively limited number of markets offered on the City Index version of MT4 is counterbalanced by those instruments which are available covering all of the major asset groups, such as forex and indices. Another potential obstacle to some traders is the minimum account balance required to take part in EA hosting. There is a need to have a balance of $5,000 at all times and clients must also satisfy a notional value of $500,000 in trades per calendar month.

Research and Learning Section

As soon as you open an account with City Index you gain access to an impressive range of educational and research features which help the broker stand out from its peer group.

Educational material encompasses a broad range of topics designed to outline ways to get the most out of the platform or build your own trading strategies. Those looking to make further progress with their trading skills can take advantage of the City Index Training Academy which is a dedicated resource full of guides covering all the features of technical analysis and fundamental analysis.

Market events can be tracked using the broker’s news monitor, economic calendar, and the Week Ahead reports. There are also opportunities to gain valuable insights into market sentiment by tuning in to webinars which take place on Monday and Friday where experienced traders share their view on market trends.

Regulatory Details

City Index has been building its operations for decades and over that time it has gained regulatory approval from a range of financial authorities.

The Australian operations are overseen by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Compliance conditions the broker must apply with are designed to protect the interests of clients and include:

• Standardised Margin Close Out rules – If your margin level reaches the standardised margin close out (MCO) level, for example 50% then City Index is required to close any or all of your open positions as quickly as possible to protect you from possibly incurring further losses.
• Negative Balance Protection rules – Your total losses cannot exceed the size of your deposits.

Leverage terms for Australian clients are also capped with the rates determined by the type of asset you are trading:

• 30:1 for CFDs over major currency pairs (3.33% margin)
• 20:1 for CFDs over minor currency pairs, gold or a major stock market index (5% margin)
• 10:1 for CFDs over commodities (excluding gold) or a minor stock market index (10% margin)
• 5:1 for CFDs over shares or other underlying assets (20% margin)
• 2:1 for CFDs over crypto assets (50% margin)

All client funds are held in a segregated account, which means the broker cannot access them for its own purposes and the reputation of City Index is further enhanced by the fact that its global operations come within scope of a range of Tier-1 regulators including:

USA: The National Futures Association (NFA) and Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

UK: Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Hong Kong: The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)

Japan: The Financial Services Agency (FSA)

Singapore: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

Canada: Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO)

Cayman Islands: Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA)

Cyprus: Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission (CySEC)

OUR SUMMARY